Charles Spurgeon Collection: Spurgeon - C.H. - The Golden Alphabet: 00a Prefatory Word & Introduction
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Charles Spurgeon Collection: Spurgeon - C.H. - The Golden Alphabet: 00a Prefatory Word & Introduction
TOPIC: Spurgeon - C.H. - The Golden Alphabet (Other Topics in this Collection)
SUBJECT: 00a Prefatory Word & Introduction
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Prefatory Word & Introduction
by Charles Spurgeon
THE TREASURY OF DAVID, in seven large volumes, is to be found in
thousands of libraries, but it is too huge a work to be commonly known
among the thousands of Israel, Hence it came into my mind to publish
certain parts of it in smaller books, that many more might be profited by it.
The One Hundred and Nineteenth Psalm is of such a size as to stand out
from all the rest, and claim a separate treatment. It is known among the
Germans as “The Christians’ golden A B C of the praise, love, power, and
use of the Word of God”; and from them I have borrowed the title of this
volume. Each portion of the Psalm begins with a letter of the Hebrew
alphabet. As a specimen, we would show how the first eight verses may be
so rendered as to begin in each case with the letter A, or Aleph.
“A blessing is on them that are undefiled in the way;
...............and walk in the law of Jehovah;
A blessing is on them that keep his testimonies,
...............and seek him with their whole heart;
Also on them that do no wickedness,
...............but walk in his ways.
A law hast thou given unto us,
...............that we should diligently keep thy commandments.
Ah, Lord! that my ways were so directed
...............that I might keep thy statutes!
And then shall I not be confounded,
...............while I have respect unto all thy commandments.
As for me, I will thank thee with an unfeigned heart,
...............when I shall have learned thy righteous judgments.
An eye will I have unto thy statutes:
...............O forsake me not utterly.”
This psalm is a wonderful composition. Its expressions are many as the
waves, but its testimony is one as the sea. It deals all along with one
subject only; but although it consists of a considerable number of verses,
some of which are very similar to others, yet throughout its one hundred
and seventy-six stanzas the self-same thought is not repeated: there is
always a shade of difference, even when the color of the. thought appears
to be the same. Some have said that in it there is an absence of variety; but
that is merely the observation of those who have not studied it. I have
weighed each word, and looked at each syllable with lengthened
meditation; and I bear witness that this sacred song has no tautology in it,
but Is charmingly varied from beginning to end. Its variety is that of a
kaleidoscope: from a few objects innumerable permutations and
combinations are produced. In the kaleidoscope you look once, and there
is a strangely beautiful form you shift the glass a very little, and another
shape, equally delicate and beautiful, is before your eyes. So it is here.
What you see is the same, and yet never the same: it is the same truth, but
it is always placed in a new light, put in a new connection, or in some way
or other invested with freshness.
I do not believe that any subject other than a heavenly one would have
allowed of such a psalm being written upon it; for the themes of this world
are narrow and shallow. Neither could such a handling have been given
even to a sacred subject by any mind less than divine; inspiration alone can
account for the fullness and freshness of this psalm.
The best compositions of men are soon exhausted; they are cisterns, and
not springing fountains. You enjoy them very much at the first
acquaintance, and you think you could hear them a hundred times over; but
you could not: you soon find them wearisome. Very speedily a man eats
too much honey: even children at length are cloyed with sweets. All human
books grow stale after a time; but with the Word of God the desire to
study it increases, while the more you know of it the less you think you
know. The Book grows upon you: as you dive into its depths you have a
fuller perception of the infinity which remains unexplored. You are still
sighing to enjoy more of that which it is your bliss to taste. All this is true
even of the psalm which is in itself nothing more than the eulogy of the
divine testimony.
This wonderful psalm, from its great length, helps us to wonder at the
immensity of Scripture. From its keeping to the same subject it helps us to
adore the unity of Scripture, for it is but one. Yet, from the many turns it
gives to its one thought, it helps us to see the variety of Scripture. How
manifold are the words and thoughts of God I In his Word, just as in
creation, the wonders of his skill are displayed in many ways.
I admire in this psalm the singular commingling of testimony, prayer, and
praise. In one verse the Psalmist bears witness; in a second verse he
praises; in a third verse he prays. It is an incense made up of many spices;
but they are wonderfully compounded and worked together, so as to form
one perfect sweetness. The blending greatly increases the value of the
whole. You would not like to have one-third of the psalm composed of
prayer — marked up to the sixtieth verse, for instance; and then another
part made up exclusively of praise; and yet a third portion of unmixed
testimony. It is best to have all these divinely-sweet ingredients intermixed,
and wrought into a sacred unity, as you have them in this thrice-hallowed
psalm. Its prayers bear testimony, and its testimonies are fragrant with
praise.
Mr. Charles Bridges has written upon this psalm a peculiarly delightful
work. I do not seek to rival him; but I would attempt the edification of the
Lord’s people in the same way as he has done, for he has made no effort to
display learning, but has aimed at promoting devotion. Several notable
authors traversed this heavenly country before Mr. Bridges, and I am one
of those who follow after him: the succession will not end till the Lord
comes.
I commend my labor to my Lord’s acceptance, and pray that his Holy
Spirit may make these praises of Holy Scripture to ring as sweet bells in
the ears of his own people evermore.
Dear Reader, pray for
Thy brother in Christ,
C. H. Spurgeon
Westwood, July 1887.
There is no special title to this. Psalm, neither is any author’s name
mentioned. It is THE LONGEST PSALM, and this is a sufficiently distinctive
name for it. It equals in bulk twenty-two psalms of the average length of
the Songs of Degrees. Nor is it long only; for it equally excels in breadth
of thought, depth of meaning, and height of fervor. It is like the celestial
city which lieth four-square, and the height and the breadth of it are equal
Many superficial readers have imagined that it harps upon one string,
and abounds in pious repetitions and redundancies; but this arises from
the shallowness of t he reader’s own mind: those who have studied this
divine hymn, and carefully noted each line of it, are amazed at the variety
and profundity of the thought. Using only a few words, the writer has
produced permutations and combinations of meaning which display his
holy familiarity with his subject, and the sanctified ingenuity of his mind.